i see the light
by Jimi Keys
Summary: Drabble, set early into the 5th season. Amy & The Doctor in the world of Tangled! "Repunzel?" Amy gapes. "What—but—that's just a fairytale! She's imaginary!"  copy/paste from my livejournal on moony-lj


...

He's shaking her awake and hauling her out of bed by her arms before she even realizes what's going on, that she's only in her nightie and he's just sonic'd into her bedroom without so much as a warning. Again.

Amy tugs at her arm until the grip he has on her elbow somehow moves to her hand, and then they're almost sprinting through the TARDIS's corridors with their hands so tightly intertwined that Amy thinks she's lost circulation in her fingers. She decides she doesn't really care.

"Come along, Pond! Quickly now!"

"Oi, what in _blazes _is going on, Doctor?" She exclaims, and she has every right to be angry with him for waking her up so suddenly but honestly, she's just _excited._

She's excited because the Doctor is excited, she can clearly tell. It's in the ear-to-ear curve of his smile and the skip in his hurried steps. She revels in it. Whenever he is excited she knows she is in for a treat of the cosmically extraordinary variety.

"Bit of a long story. Well, not that long. The TARDIS landed us into the wrong century—it was no fault of mine I assure you—but oh what a century this is, and just in time, too! Amy, we are currently about to witness the fabled sky lanterns of Princess Repunzel."

"Repunzel?" Amy gaped. "What—but—that's just a fairytale! She's imaginary!"

"So was I," He tells her, meaningfully, shooting her a roguish grin.

When they burst through the TARDIS's doors Amy feels the cool dew-laden grass flatten beneath the weight of her bare feet, and remembers that he hadn't even spared her the time to put on her slippers when he had unceremoniously dragged her out of bed.

She opens her mouth to yell at the Doctor, but chokes on her words, and instead finds herself torn between gaping and smiling, thoroughly speechless by the sight above her.

Hundreds—no, _thousands_ of paper lanterns float up into the night sky and right over their heads, slowly but surely. Some seem so close Amy feels an overwhelming urge to raise her hand up to reach for them, but she doesn't. The lanterns radiate gold, pink, and fuchsia lights, and even a bit of indigo. Within walking distance from the TARDIS was an impressive castle, where the sky lanterns were brightest.

"This is beautiful." She hears herself whisper, and without thinking she reaches for the Doctor's hand and curls her slender fingers between his.

In answer, he squeezes her hand for a moment and smiles up at the shining night sky, "Knew you'd like it."

"Do we get to meet her? Repunzel, I mean." Amy turns to him, and she isn't ashamed to shoot him an imploring look which could rival that of a hopeful puppy.

The Doctor's smile broadens, and he checks his watch. "Repunzel should be about six by now. She doesn't return to her kingdom and reclaim her rightful place as princess until her eighteenth birthday."

"_What_? Why?"

"She was kidnapped as an infant, of course. The whole purpose of the sky lanterns is the hope that she'd see them and return one day, though at the moment I suppose she's spending this birthday cooped up in a tower somewhere. They do this every year on her birthday. And she _does_ return… eventually. Honestly, Pond, I thought you knew your fairytales."

Amy punches him lightheartedly in the shoulder. "Let's find her then. Bring her back to her parents."

The Doctor snorts. "No. _No_. Absolutely not."

"Why not! She was _stolen _from her parents; I doubt that's a very pleasant experience, for her _and_ her family. And she's kidnapped by God knows who. We'd be doing a good deed! What use is a bloody time machine if we can't even help a kid out?"

The Doctor's expression visibly softens, and he stares at her with such a tender look it almost startles her. "I'm sorry. It's a fixed point in time, Amy. She_ needs_ to return on her eighteenth birthday, it's when she meets her true love, whom plays a very important role in her future, as her husband and king."

Amy's expression brightens immediately. "Aw! Let's go forward in time then, I want to see them fall in love!"

The Doctor shakes his head, his nose scrunching up in a grimace. "That sounds boring," he grumbles, but lets Amy take his hands in hers and drag him into the TARDIS anyway.


End file.
